Many different types of holders for articles, such as flashlights, use a clamp or the like to attach the article to clothing. Of course, a large variety of fixed supports have been known and used over the years. In the past, article holders have invariably used a clip or clamp-like holder to hold the article, such as a flashlight. In turn, the clip or clamp-like holder itself would be attached to a relatively stable or fixed article, such as the side of a hat, a belt, or a part of an article of clothing, furniture, etc., by another clamping means, such as an alligator clip.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,040, issued to Cannone, a flashlight holder comprises a clip for attaching to a brim of a hat, and an expandable strap for holding a flashlight to the clip. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,384, issued to Drohan, a flashlight holder comprises a clamp for holding to a support element, a flexible metal cable attached to the clamp at one end thereof, and a flexible strap for clamping to a flashlight is attached to the other end of the metal cable via a ball-and-socket joint.
In another type of flashlight holder, exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,631, issued to Marshall, VELCRO is used to attach the flashlight to a headband. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,297 issued to Weinberger, the article holder comprises a U-shaped frame with a pivotable clip for holding a flashlight mounted to the free ends of the U-shaped frame. The clip is pivotable relative to the frame for positioning the flashlight that is attached to the clip. The frame itself can be removably mounted to a support structure via a conventional hanger arrangement.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,688, which issued to Griffin, Jr., the article holder comprises a first clip for holding a flashlight. The first clip is resiliently attached to a second clip which, in turn, can be attached to a belt or the like. The second clip, alternatively, may be attached to a wall or the like via a clip holder which provides a belt-like structure for holding the second clip.
In these prior article holders, the clip for holding the flashlight is either integrally formed with another clip, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,406,040; 5,103,384; 4,970,631; and 4,214,688, or is removably mounted to another clip, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,297. In the prior integrally mounted clip type, the drawback is that the clip that holds the flashlight cannot be removed from the clip that clamps onto a fixture or clothing. In the prior holders that use a removably mounted type of clip, the clip for holding the flashlight is complex as the clip is permanently mounted to the U-shaped frame. The U-shaped frame that pivotally holds the flashlight clip is removable. Accordingly, the clip and the U-shaped frame are both detached from the second clip.